E.D. & I.

I learned early that people get uncomfortable when I tell them white parents adopted me as a black girl. My racial identity was not something I claimed or even knew existed until my first year of school, so I was surprised when I got to kindergarten, and my teacher told me I was different from my peers and my family.

Picture this: It's mid-January 2008, and five-year-old Georgia is sitting crisscross applesauce on Miss G.'s kindergarten reading mat. My peers and I are watching a video about Martin Luther King Jr., when she explains his influence by stating, "If it weren't for M.L.K. Jr., then Georgia would not be allowed to learn with us. She would have to go to a different school than everyone else." My teacher was attempting to compare civil rights-era segregated schools to our modern classroom, but instead made the black kindergartner in her class feel different because of my skin color. Until that day, I was like everyone else, but just like that, I became different. Despite feeling detached from my white peers, I don't believe the young teacher meant any harm. Her lack of forethought triggered an early identity crisis and made it clear that I was separate from all the white boys and girls around us.

Nevertheless, her words had power, and as I step into the classroom, I must use my experience as a member of the global majority and a confused black child in a white family to uplift the diverse identities of students instead of isolating them. My first experience with racism occurred within my first six months of public schooling, and regardless of Miss G.'s ignorance, it affected me. As I transition from a pre-service teacher to a first-year teacher, I vow to take students' diverse identities into account by creating an environment where all students are represented in artwork, artists, and historical narratives. I will develop lessons that feature diverse cultural traditions and focus on the artistic practices of living artists with diverse backgrounds, rather than on historical artists who might be difficult for students to connect to.

My classroom will foster respect and inclusivity, honoring every student's diverse identity, and I vow to translate those experiences into positive change.